FTX is reportedly looking to enter India by investing in fantasy cricket league platform MPL

• Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX is reportedly looking to invest in gaming startup Mobile Premier League (MPL).
  
• This will mark FTX's first foray into the Indian startup ecosystem as well as the world of cricket.
  
• MPL is planning to step into the world of web3 with the help of FTX.

Crypto exchange FTX made splashy headlines last year as it sponsored everything from baseball to football to soccer to Formula One (F1) racing. Now, it’s reportedly looking to dip its toe both into the world of cricket and the Indian startup ecosystem by investing in gaming unicorn Mobile Premier League (MPL).

MPL has a wide range of games on its platform but is most well-known for its fantasy cricket league. Sources told TechCrunch that the gaming company is now looking to foray into web3, which is where the investment from FTX comes in.

A win-win for MPL and FTX
A report by Morning Consult indicates that there’s a significant overlap between the crypto-curious and sports. According to the data, sports fans are about twice as likely as non-sports fans to say that they are familiar with crypto, like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

FTX, valued at $32 billion after its latest funding round in January earlier this year, has been touted as the entity that brought crypto and sports under one umbrella. An investment into MPL would mark the crypto enterprise’s entry into the Indian startup space as well as into the world of cricket.

For MPL, FTX’s crypto expertise and how that marries the world of sports would be an added benefit.

FTX is the crypto’s MVP of sports partnerships
FTX started on its sports journey last year when it signed a $135 million deal with National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Miami HEAT to have the crypto exchange’s name plastered on the home arena for 19 years.

A couple of months later, FTX partnered with Major League Baseball to become the first cryptocurrency exchange sponsor in professional sports. As a result, the FTX branding was seen as a feature on every umpire uniform.

Then came the Mercedes F1 partnership, NFT partnerships with NBA and NHL teams, direct deals with sports stars like Tom Brady, Steph Curry and David Ortiz, and, of course, the Super Bowl.

MPL isn’t the only gaming platform in India going web3
MPL, which already has Sequoia Capital India and RTP Global as investors, has been talking to FTX to raise the new investment as an extension to its Series E round of funding at a valuation of $2.5 billion. The investment terms are still in flux and subject to change, sources told TechCrunch.

And, it’s not alone in its endeavour to go web3. Dream11, touted as MPL’s primary contender, is looking to funnel a $100 million investment in NFT startup Rario. Rush Gaming Universe by Hike is also expected to launch its whitepaper sometime this month after unveiling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in March.
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